Hamilton MSP Christina McKelvie column: Women's Day is to give us a voice

Women make up 52 per cent of the Scottish population, so we do have not only a right but in fact a statutory obligation to be heard. Second, look towards the referendum – women have an equal say in how that turns out.

We’ve just wrapped up all the worldwide events around International Women’s Day. These events and this annual demarcation is important if only because it reminds the men that we’re here and we have a voice!

We women aren’t attacking men; we don’t want to gain some sort of advantaged position; we aren’t some kind of big lobbying body that wants to coerce everyone else into somehow backing women. We just want to be recognised for the contribution we make.

That contribution comes in a host of different ways. First off, women make up 52 per cent of the Scottish population, so we do have not only a right but in fact a statutory obligation to be heard. Second, look towards the referendum – women have an equal say in how that turns out. I want the vote to be Yes – no secret there – and want to see the women around Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse deciding for themselves about what is the right way to vote.

I was brought up in Easterhouse during the 1970s. Political interest came early on because, at the age of 14, I saw Margaret Thatcher visit us. She was privatising all over the place and was oblivious of our issues around alcohol and glue sniffers. That got me thinking. I realised how important it was to work out the questions and find the answers that satisfied me. I learned never to take up an assumed position just because that was the tradition. Whatever your background and your situation, ask yourself what is best for Scotland and for your own family and explore the answers – there is plenty of information out there – then arrive at your own decision.

This is far too big a decision to just follow tribal patterns. Make your decision for yourself, for your children and your children’s children. We women have perhaps been too inclined to just follow the patterns laid down for us.

I spoke at a conference in Glasgow, supported by Castlemilk Law Centre, last Friday where professional lawyers, social workers and others were looking at the legal protection available to women who may be disadvantaged as a result of gender-based violence and harassment in the home and the wider community.

Events such as these – and there have been several others during the last week – are vital when it comes to ensuring the voice of women is heard. While the current Scottish Government put a huge emphasis upon the importance of gender equality, not everybody shares that commitment. The key introduction of transformational childcare that will allow women to get out and into the workforce without incurring untenable costs is the brainchild of this Scottish Government. Once we have the levers of financial power to introduce it fully, then we will be improving the lives of mothers and putting more money into the economy. One person who was a key contributor to that initiative was Professor Ailsa McKay who died last week at just 50 after a long fight against cancer. She leaves two young children.

Ailsa was professor of economics at Glasgow Caledonian University and it was the First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP, who paid tribute to her in the Parliament on Thursday.

He said: “This week, as we look forward to International Women’s Day, above all I think it is important we note her astonishing contribution as a feminist economist both in arguing the case for women into work and in being the principal author and arguer for many years for the transformation of childcare which will make that possible.”